5-18 Ada Foah Village

 Today we are going to experience village life in Ghana.  We have done this in different countries and have some pretty phenomenal experiences.   It will take about two hours of driving to get there.  The roads are actually considered to be pretty good roads. Most of the time we are driving very slow.  Every once in a while there will be a sudden spurt in speed - but it never lasts long.  There are so many opportunities for sales people to be on the road - or along the road.  Here are some views from the road trip.

Do you need a bed frame?

Or maybe a lawn mower?

We are in watermelon country.

Wait - do you need a dress for an event tonight?

Looking for stones to build a wall or maybe a house.

With all the pot holes on the road - there are frequent tire problems.  Stop at the vulcanizer to repair your tire.  There are special ones set up just for semi-truck's in need of tire repairs.

Need some bread?  Hot oven has your back.

Finally we turn off the main road onto a red dirt road.  Reminds me of Oklahoma!  We bounce along for 15 minutes and arrive here.  Michael has noticed that the bumper on Mary's car is loose.

This is Ada village.  Our guide gets out to go ask the elders for permission to stop here and take photos.  We wait in the car.  Finally she comes back - its ok.

No one seems very excited to see us.

Even the goats/sheep turn their backs on us.

Finally some smiles.  

Michael tries to make friends.  Our guide is to his left.

Finally the boss lady comes out.  I point to my camera and her - asking permission to take her photo.  She nods her acceptance.

But we are uncomfortable with our lack of welcome.  Our guide says the museum is further on on this road.  So we move on.  There is a local school here.

We come to this impasse.  The cart on the left is blocking the only logical path through the ruts on the road.  The people who are in charge of the cart just stare at us.  Mary who has been stressed with the driving for quite some time announces she doesn't want to drive any further.  Our guide argues that we need to go to the museum.  Michael and I agree with Mary - the museum cannot be worth more than Mary's car.  We need to turn around.  

We head back to the main road.  We have to wait for the herder to get the cows off the road.  We bump over the worst spot on the road - where Mary's bumper got loose.  As we cross it - part of Mary's bumper falls off.  We stop and the guide and Mary put it into the trunk.

It has been 4+ hours since we started this journey.  No one has mentioned the need for a bathroom break or food.  So once we are on the main road, I state the obvious.  I need a toilet and I need lunch.  Our guide looks confused, but then suggests a gas station a little ways away.  

When we get there - it is not really a gas station, but a car repair shop.  She asks and is told there is a toilet, but to get there we have to pass the pit where they repair cars.  They don't have a lift, but they do have a hole in the ground where the mechanic stands.  The car is driven forward so the engine is over the hole.  There is a narrow space to the right that leads to the back of the building and to the toilet.  Yes - I see the hole - I will not fall in.  It is a fully functioning toilet and there is a sink with running water.  This is heavenly.

While Michael is using the facilities, I speak to our guide.  Has she thought about how to take care of her clients needs.  Does she know where there are toilets?  How about restaurants.  How are we going to be fed.  Did she plan for us to go for 6 hours with no bathroom breaks and no food?  Mary our driver, says - hey us locals just go behind the trees.  I feel like I am back in China - or maybe it is worse.  

So I feel like Michael and I need to train our guide.  If you want to be a guide for white- or any wealthier client you need to think of these things.  Our guide finds a restaurant about 5 minutes away who say they are open.  When we arrive, no one is there.  Our waitress comes over to our table.  What do you want to eat, she asks.  We say - what do you have?  She doesn't seem to have an answer.   Finally one of us asks for the menu.  She brings one - So we point to various items.  They don't have anything we point to.  Mary asks, what do you have that is ready?  Jollof rice and chicken is the answer.  And maybe fish.  Michael asks for local food - no, they don't have any.  Everything will take at least an hour to make.  Michael and I have been eating jollof rice and chicken for four days.  So we ask for the fish and can we have fries.  Ok that should not take long to make.  

It takes them 20 minutes to heat up the jollof rice and chicken that was supposedly ready.  The guide and Mary are served.  We notice at this point that someone seems to be taking out the fish and fries from the freezer now.  It is another 30 minutes before we get the fish and fries.  The fries are actually pretty good.  The fish is pretty bad.  But we are fed.  As we are getting ready to leave, a local man enters the restaurant.  We hear him as he requests local food.  He is served within 5 minutes.  

As you can guess, Michael is pretty upset about this.  He writes a scathing google review of the restaurant.

I confer with our guide - we were supposed to see Jamestown and the Jamestown lighthouse on the first tour day.  Would we have time for it today?  When we get close to Accra I can see that Mary is very stressed by the driving. Michael is exhausted, and I am tired.  I call it a day.  We have one more day of touring around Accra on Tuesday - we will do it first thing on Tuesday morning.